Catalyst December 22nd Street Dates

The following products have a Street Date of DECEMBER 22ND, 2010:

First Strike: BattleCorps Compilation Vol 2 ($14.95)

Three hundred years. An age of chivalry and brutality. Of star empires.

Princes and generals. Soldiers and spies. An age where heroes rally to hold back the darkness. And even the most unlikeliest of hands may determine the fate of millions. An age of duty, loyalty, and terrible choices.

An Age of War.

This compilation contains a selection of seventeen of 2005’s best fiction pieces, as well as an all new story by Steven Mohan, Jr.

Includes stories by: Randall N. Bills, Blaine Lee Pardoe, Jason Schmetzer, Jason Hardy, Jeff Kautz, Dan C. Duval, Loren L. Coleman, Kevin Killiany, Victor Milan, Phaedra Wledon, Steven Mohan, Jr., Dayle A. Dermatis and Lousa Swann.

Spells & Chrome ($14.95)

Welcome to the year 2072…

…And a world unlike anything you’ve ever imagined. A world where magic and machines exist side-by-side. Where cybernetics can replace organs or entire limbs with ease, and arcane spells can make the impossible happen. Where the Matrix has become an artificial world of its own, filled with all kinds of pleasure, treasure, and trouble. Where dwarves, elves, orks and trolls walk alongside humans every day. Some work for megacorporations whose invisible tentacles wrap around every aspect of modern life. Others choose a much less legal career, doing whatever dirty work the corp executives need done—for a price.

Welcome to Shadowrun

Featuring fifteen new stories about the men and women who make their living in the shadows of the Sixth World, Spells & Chrome takes you into the dark and dirty streets of the future. Whether risking their lives to execute a mission for an employer who might be planning to double-cross them anyway, or just doing whatever they need to do to survive another day, shadowrunners use everything they’ve got—cyberware, spells, or a very big gun—to get the job done.

A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG, Limited Edition ($74.99)

It is the 31st century. Mankind has spread to the stars and spawned titanic stellar empires, each controlling hundreds of worlds across a thousand light years and beyond. Yet the sins of man have followed him from the cradle of humanity.

Political machinations of feudal lords plunge whole sectors into war; unscrupulous merchant starship captains smuggle weapons to their own faction’s enemies; greedy military commanders demand tribute from worlds they’re protecting; animalistic pirate kings harvest high technologies and human slaves in lightning raids; betrayals from oath-bound allies leave honorable soldiers growing cold on forgotten worlds; death at the tip of knife from a concubine turned assassin to avenge a world and love lost: it is a time of war.

What empire will you swear allegiance to: a warrior merchant of House Steiner; the honorbound samurai of House Kurita; the vat-bred warriors of the Clans; a mercenary that fights only for the highest bidder?

Choose your life in the universe: a MechWarrior piloting the thirty-foot-tall BattleMechs that turn the tide of any battle; a spy deep behind enemy lines discovering critical secrets; a merchant carrying critical supplies; a scientist unleashing the latest cutting edge technologies?

How will YOU become a legend?

The following additional material has been added to the Limited Edition version:

• Special Edition cover
• Unique page indicating book number (only 700 LEs available) [Click here for a preview]
• An all new, original short story by Michael Stackpole (the beginning of the original Red Corsair as Katrina Steiner, Morgan Kell and Arthur Luvon flee to the Periphery to safeguard Katrina’s life and begin plotting to put her on the throne of the Lyran Commonwealth) [Click here for a prefinal preview]
• Each LE will include the following signatures (not digital reproductions, but actual signatures): Jordan Weisman, Michael A. Stackpole, Loren L. Coleman, Randall N. Bills, and Herb A. Beas II.
• A double-sided poster map: one side displays the spine image found on the BattleTech Core Rulebooks, the other a cascade of faction logos and personalities from the universe. [Click here and here, respectively, for pre-final previews]
• Cloth bookmark.

Only 700 total Limited Edition are available, with a portion already sold through www.battlecorps.com/catalog (for anyone that purchased theirs through the website, shipments are underway).